Virginia Department of Historic Resources Virginia Department of Historic Resources
For additional information, read the Nomination Form PDF
VLR Listing Date 09/17/2020
NRHP Listing Date 11/25/2020
NRHP Reference Number MP100005835
Glebe Apartments (now known as Knightsbridge Apartments) exemplifies the multi-family garden apartment complexes that arose between 1934 and 1954 in Arlington County as a response to the critical need for moderately priced housing for a growing population in the greater Washington D.C. area. That need began in the 1930s with the influx of people who found work with a burgeoning federal government under the New Deal and the government’s subsequent expansion as the U.S. prepared for World War II. Following World War II, the small Glebe Apartments complex, constructed in 1947, provided housing for some of the thousands of veterans, among other people, who settled in the county. Similar to other garden apartments in Arlington, the federal government supported and encouraged construction of Glebe Apartments. Under the direction and influence of the Federal Housing Administration, Arlington’s garden apartment buildings, including Glebe Apartments, incorporated the standards of forward-thinking planners and housing reformers who sought to bring the benefits of modern, efficient interior floor plans and attractively planned residential communities to people of moderate means. Executed in the Colonial Revival style, Glebe Apartments specifically met the moderate means of workers and their families. The era’s cheaper suburban land permitted economical, lower-density development of multi-family projects, making low-rise and garden apartments an attractive option, a trend that appeared to favor Arlington County. A prior Multiple Property Documentation Form (MPD) Garden Apartments, Apartment Houses, and Apartment Complexes in Arlington County, Virginia: 1934-1954 facilitated listing of the Glebe Apartments.
Many properties listed in the registers are private dwellings and are not open to the public, however many are visible from the public right-of-way. Please be respectful of owner privacy.
Abbreviations:
VLR: Virginia Landmarks Register
NPS: National Park Service
NRHP: National Register of Historic Places
NHL: National Historic Landmark
Updated: May 1, 2023
